


Unseen

by Fritillary



Category: Myst - Book of D'ni, Myst Series
Genre: Angst, Book of D'ni, Drabble, Gen, Slavery, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 16:35:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18695260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fritillary/pseuds/Fritillary
Summary: These are the people who cannot be seen.





	Unseen

**Author's Note:**

> Imported from Livejournal. Originally written 7/Nov/2008
> 
> Prompt: #272 - "look" for @writers_choice and unthemed Four: #4 - "worthless" for @mission_insane  
> Warnings: spoilers for Book of D'ni. Eedrah POV, angst, slavery
> 
> For the handful of people who actually read the Myst Series books & loved them as much as I did (and wish there was a fourth like Cyan Worlds keeps promising!)

These are the people who cannot be seen. As a child I was taught not to see them by example. I was told that, as the son and heir of Ro'Jeththe, I was not one of them, but I could not help the contradictions within my own head. Throughout my life, the Reliyamah were shadows and whispers in the walls; footsteps that moved all night and day, shuffling past in silent terror of the Paarli. In confusing irony, they cooked my food, lit the lamps and cleaned my rooms, yet themselves starved in the darkness below stairs.

My father did not understand when I first asked about the Reliymah - "what slaves?" - and forbade me to mention it ever again. So I did as he did, seeing no other way, and closed my eyes to the shadowy figures. But I could not so easily close my heart, and it has ached secretly on their behalf ever since.

These are the people who cannot be seen. They cannot be heard, even in their dying screams, for if we could see them - these unseen people - we ourselves, who live upon their screams, would be people no longer.

Do I see you?


End file.
